House Republican leaders are preparing legislation that would fund the government until Dec. 15, extend the debt ceiling until Feb. 7 and strike the health care subsidies that members of Congress, White House appointees and staff were set to receive under the new health care law, a GOP lawmaker said.

Under the new House GOP proposal  the second one they proposed Tuesday  union workers would also remain subject to a $63 health insurance tax from which they had sought an exemption.

The proposal also would give the House and Senate until mid-December negotiate a new, long-term budget.

"The goal here for all Republicans is we want to get to this budget committee," Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., told reporters as he left a GOP leadership meeting. "We'd like to give the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means Committee the chance to get some big, broad based agreements for entitlement reform and tax reform."

The House bill is a variation of the first proposal GOP leaders pitched to their rank and file earlier Tuesday, but which seemed to lack broad Republican support.

The old GOP plan, which funded the government at $986 billion, also attracted Democratic objections over a provision limiting the administration from moving funding around between departments and a second provision that would prevent the Treasury Secretary from shuffling around money to extend the borrowing limit past Feb. 7.

Nunes said both provisions remain in the House plan, but that the limits on the administration's spending flexibility would be temporary.

A special House committee designated to write the rules for floor debate is expected to meet shortly to decide what amendments, if any would be allowed on the proposal.

House GOP leaders have been huddled for hours in the offices of House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, trying to hash out a plan that would be able to win 218 Republicans. They rejected a proposal by one of the leaders of the conservative wing, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, that would have extended the debt ceiling only to Jan. 7.

Jordan left the meeting declining comment.

The Senate, meanwhile, has halted talks on their own debt ceiling and government funding proposal. A House-passed bill, under parliamentary rules, would allow the Senate to act faster and perhaps beat the Oct. 17 deadline set by Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to raise the borrowing limit.

Republicans said the bipartisan Senate plan stalled after much progress Monday night after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid began asking for additional concessions from the GOP, though no lawmaker would provide specifics.

The House proposal strips out much of the language Republicans had sought to limit the new health care law. According to Nunes, a requirement for income verification for those receiving health insurance subsidies was also removed.

Instead, Nunes said, the language crafted by Sen. David Vitter, R-La., that would equalize the health care law for congressional and White House employees was added. The Vitter Amendment, as it is known, strips out the 72-percent government subsidy that pays for White House and Congressional employee health insurance policies.

The fact that we are here today to debate raising Americas debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. government cant pay its own bills. ... I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase Americas debt limit.  3/16/2006 Floor speech in the Senate

First, we learned that the federal budget deficit could reach nearly half a trillion dollars next year. Eight years after we had a record surplus, were now faced with record deficits. This mortgaging of our childrens future is a direct result of the Bush Administrations dangerously failed fiscal policies.  8/9/08 Democratic Radio Address

And, you know, frankly, the last eight years what weve seen is moving in reverse. Weve been moving in reverse. When Bill Clinton was president, the average family income went up $7,500; $7,500. Since George Bush has been president, you know what its done? Its gone down $2,000. Think about that. Thats a $9,500 swing; $9,500. Thats money out of your pocket. Thats money going out of this country because were borrowing it from China to send to Saudi Arabia to buy oil. Thats whats added $4 trillion to our deficit. I mean, think about that. You know, so weve created a mountain of debt for the next generation that theyre going to have to pay off. This little guy, hes not too worried about it right now, but, you know, weve created $30,000 worth of debt for every man, woman and child in America. Thats going to have to be paid back.  9/3/08 New Philadelphia, Ohio

We cant mortgage our childrens future on a mountain of debt. I look at all these young people here today, and I say to myself, the notion that we are loading up more and more debt on a war in Iraq that I believe should have never been authorized and should never been waged  (cheers, applause)  on tax cuts for multi-billion dollar corporations and some of the wealthiest Americans, that is not a good investment in the future. We cant run up a credit card, have a party and leave our children to pay the bill. It is time  it is time to put an end to the runaway spending and the record deficits. Its not how you would run your family budget, and it must not be how Washington handles your tax dollars. Its time to return to fiscal responsibility and pay-as-you-go budgeting, the kind of budgeting we had in the 1990s. Youll remember Bill Clinton left a surplus  (cheers, applause)  to George W. Bush.  10/1/08 La Crosse, Wisconsin

We cant afford another four years of the kind of deficits weve been seeing over the last eight. Young people, you are going to have to pay for this debt were piling up. We cant afford to mortgage our childrens future on another mountain of debt.  10/2/08 East Lansing, Michigan

The problem is, is that the way Bush has done it over the last eight years is to take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children, driving up our national debt from $5 trillion for the first 42 presidents  #43 added $4 trillion by his lonesome, so that we now have over $9 trillion of debt that we are going to have to pay back  $30,000 for every man, woman and child. Thats irresponsible. Its unpatriotic.  Independence Day, 2008, Fargo, North Dakota:

2
posted on 10/15/2013 1:51:46 PM PDT
by TurboZamboni
(Marx smelled bad & lived with his parents most his life.)

“... language crafted by Sen. David Vitter, R-La., that would equalize the health care law for congressional and White House employees was added. The Vitter Amendment, as it is known, strips out the 72-percent government subsidy that pays for White House and Congressional employee health insurance policies.”

Well, I’ll wait but without expectations. The Democrats will not let the budget go back to 2008 and I doubt that even the Republicans (RINOS) will allow that either. Good plan though but probably not realistic. Actually not sure where that comes from because the only thing I’ve heard about that is whether the sequester is extended or overturned. Not sure where the 2008 levels come from.

The republicans should say “This is all we’re going to cave. Congress and staff and white house staff will not get subsidies. If Reid, Pelosi and Obama want to default over this, then so be it. It will prove to the people they want default.”

Apparently these congress people are figureheads only. The genious staffs are the powers behind the thrones. And they do believe it to be thrones.

The budget is about to go back to 2008 levels and Obama's promises on immigration, climate changes, etc are dead.

Not sure where you're getting your information, but in any case, simply refusing to budge guarantees year 2000 levels of spending, because that is how much revenue is coming in every month, without borrowing another thin dime.

Ignore what you hear and read in the news. The federal government actually reached the legal debt ceiling about four months ago. Since then, the government has been financing its monthly budget deficit by stealing/borrowing money from other government funds, like the federal government employees pension fund. In about two weeks, the government will run out of tricks to keep operating as if nothing has happened. If the debt ceiling is not raised by then, the government has to balance its budget.

Thats right. As much as the politicians and news media have tried to convince you that the world will end without a debt ceiling increase, it is simply not true. The federal debt ceiling sets a legal limit for how much money the federal government can borrow. In other words, it places an upper limit on the national debt. It is like the credit limit on the governments gold card.

Reaching the debt ceiling does not mean that the government will default on the outstanding government debt. In fact, the U.S. Constitution forbids defaulting on the debt (14th Amendment, Section 4), so the government is not allowed to default even if it wanted to.

In reality, if the debt ceiling is not raised in the next two weeks, the government will actually have to prioritize its expenses and keep its monthly, weekly, and daily spending under the revenue the government collects. In simple terms, the government would have to spend an amount less than or equal to what it earns. Just like ordinary Americans have to do in their everyday lives.

Once the reality of what hitting the debt ceiling means is understood, the important question is: can the government actually live with a balanced budget? How much money could it spend? Could enough spending be cut to live within a balanced budget? The answer is yes, the federal government could live with a balanced budget. ...

I just was reading another news item regarding this and in it it mentioned that the Republicans were trying to eliminate or delay (I forget which as I can't find the news story) a $63.00 fee that employees who get employer covered health care have to pay to help fund Obamacare.

Anybody know anything more about this? This is the first I've heard of this little added expense and I'm about to stroke out, I'm so livid about this.

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